On Grand Strand Golf: Rounds played increase slightly for the spring and first half of 2016

For the second consecutive year, the Grand Strand golf market enjoyed an increase in the total number of rounds played in the critical spring months of March, April and May, though the increase was less than in 2015.

According to statistics provided by marketing cooperative Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday based on rounds booked on the Grand Strand Tee Time Network, which includes 78 reporting courses, rounds played in the three months combined were up 0.4 percent compared to 2015. They were up 2.1 percent last year compared to 2014.

“The challenge for us in an industry that remains in a static or slow declining environment, our biggest challenge is maintaining market share or growing market share,” said Golf Holiday president Bill Golden. “We saw that in the spring.”

In the individual months, March rounds were down 0.4 percent, April was up 5.9 percent and May was down 5.6 percent.

The total number of reported rounds at the 78 courses for the three spring months was 1,002,763 this year compared to 999,221 last year.

The 2015 and ’16 figures compare total rounds rather than paid rounds, as Golf Holiday changed the way it collects the data. So the comparison now includes walk-in, package, member, replay and complimentary rounds.

In terms of package and walk-in rounds, spring rounds dropped 3 percent in 2013 compared to 2012, and 1.7 percent in 2014 compared to 2013. The Strand had enjoyed three consecutive spring seasons of increased year over year paid rounds, consisting of a 5.5 percent increase in 2010, 8.7 percent spike in 2011 and 0.7 percent increase in 2012.

The spring season is the lifeblood of the area golf industry, featuring the most rounds and peak prices.

There are factors each year that move more rounds from month to month in the spring. For instance, May was negatively impacted this year compared to 2015 because there were four weekends in the month compared to five in 2015.

March was hurt and April was helped this year by the fact that Easter fell in March last year and April this year.

Weather always plays a role as well, and after a rough January the spring weather was more consistent this year compared to the past three years. “Our numbers are going to be heavily weather dependent,” Golden said.

March weather has been particularly cold or wet in the three previous years.

“The past three Marches have been very, very rough from the weather perspective,” Golden said. “So people taking a vacation during that time period may make a decision to either change the time of year or go somewhere else if that’s the only time of year they could take vacation.

“… That’s not unlike situations we’ve had in the past in the fall when storms would come up. It takes a while to rebuild that business in a month when you’ve had difficult weather challenges. This March was better and more consistent and I think we need to build upon that headed to next year, and begin to resell March. March used to happen and was one of our most popular months of the year for golf in the area. We’ve had some challenges and we need to rebuild that business.”

A strong increase in rounds of 9.8 percent in June has contributed to rounds being up 2.1 percent for the first half of 2016 compared to 2015. Total rounds include walk-in, package, member, replay and complimentary rounds.

Paid rounds have decreased on the Grand Strand every calendar year since 2004, according to Golf Holiday records, though the decreases have been less than 2 percent every year since and including 2010 with the exception of a 6 percent decrease in 2013.

June features a rate drop from May and has been growing in popularity in recent years.

“We need to do some research to understand if those are new rounds, if those are rounds that have been displaced from March or May, or were they displaced there because of rate changes,” Golden said.

The market now looks to the fall golf season and must overcome the possible negative impact of record rainfall and flooding last October.

“We had the floods last October, which had a dramatic impact on rounds,” Golden said. “So similarly to March, we need to resell October. We lost a lot of pre-booked rounds, so we need to resell October and resell the virtues of fall golf and make sure we restore that business.”

Parrish starting tour

Former North Myrtle Beach resident Tony Parrish, who won multiple annual money titles in the now defunct Grand Strand Pro Golf Tour, expects to return to the area a lot more frequently beginning this fall when he and a partner plan to launch a new pro golf tour in the area.

Parrish, who has lived in Irwin, N.C., for the past few years, and Barefoot Resort resident and fellow pro golfer Len “Porkchop” Calvert are finalizing the details of a yet-unnamed pro tour that will hold events between Pawleys Island and Wilmington, N.C., beginning this fall.

Parrish said the first events will be 36 holes over two days, with play likely on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. If some events expand to 54 holes they will likely start on Mondays.

The Coastal Players Tour, which was founded in 2012, stages 36-hole events on weekends.

The new tour’s first tournament will be billed as a Grand Strand Tour reunion event and Parrish has been contacting past tour members. Grand Strand Tour founder Steve Clark staged tournaments for six years before shutting down the tour at the end of 2011.

Parrish ran his own tour on the Strand for a short time and also tried to start an amateur tournament.

He said a sponsor will guarantee a minimum first-place payment for at least the first few events, and he expects first place to be about $2,000 for the first event, and it could increase if 20 or more players register. He expects entry fees to be between $250 and $350, and credit cards will be accepted. Interested players can call Parrish at 910-890-6018 or email him at julesandtony@hotmail.com.

“We’ll run it like it’s supposed to be run,” Parrish said. “This area needs a tour for these guys to be able to make some money without going bankrupt. If you take care of them and do the right thing, they will come.”

Parrish will turn 49 in November and hopes to enter the 2017 Champions Tour Qualifying Tournament. He was the head pro at Timberlake Golf Club in Clinton, N.C., has had a pair of shoulder surgeries in recent years, and has been playing in some Coastal Players Tour events and matches at several courses in the Raleigh, N.C., area.

Jones joins event

Former PGA Tour member and 1996 U.S. Open winner Steve Jones will be making an appearance July 21 at Family Golf Week festivities at Legends Golf Resort, and will also be throwing out the first pitch at the Myrtle Beach Pelicans baseball game on July 22.

Jones will be at the Family Affair and participate in a Question and Answer session on Thursday, July 21 from 5:30-8:00 p.m., which includes skills contests, demo opportunities, food, drinks and entertainment.

Family Golf Week presented by PGA Tour Superstore from July 21-23 includes the National Father & Son Team Classic, Mother & Daughter Team Classic and Father & Daughter Team Classic.

The Father & Son tournament features three rounds with formats of modified captain’s choice, better ball and alternate shot. Golf courses being used include Grande Dunes Resort Course, Rivers Edge Golf Club, Thistle Golf Club, Myrtle Beach National’s King’s North Course, Barefoot Resort’s Love Course, Legends’ Heathland Course, Panther’s Run Golf Links, Prestwick Country Club, and Shaftesbury Glen Golf & Fish Club.

The Father-Daughter and Mother-Daughter tournaments are 36 holes Thursday and Friday with formats of better ball and captain’s choice, and host courses are International World Tour Golf Links and Arrowhead Country Club.

Family Golf Week also includes a nine-hole shootout July 22 at Cane Patch Par 3.

The entry deadline for all tournaments is noon Tuesday and participants can call 843-497-2627. The entry fee is $995.

Tournament director Brad Greenstein said the Father-Son tournament has approximately 330 teams, and the other two events have about 30 teams combined.

The event’s executive committee has selected Myrtle Beach mayor John Rhodes as the recipient of this year’s “Father of the Year” award.

He will be accepting his award during the awards ceremony July 23 at 2 p.m. at Legends Resort. Rhodes has three children, three stepchildren and nine grandchildren.

He discovered Myrtle Beach as a teenager when he came to a friend’s house-party. He worked as a lifeguard, managed the Yachtsman Hotel by age 27, then managed Ocean Dunes Resort and owned and operated several restaurants, including the Gullyfield Restaurant.

In 1981 Rhodes became executive director of the Beach Ball Classic holiday invitational basketball tournament that continues to be a popular event, and has been Myrtle Beach mayor since 2005.

Rhodes crusaded for the building of Savannah’s Playground, a fully-accessible facility for special needs children in Myrtle Beach that is unique in South Carolina, and has helped raise $1 million for it.

Ladies league concludes

The Grand Strand Ladies Interclub Golf League, which dates back to 1976, completed its 2016 season in late June, and the Grand Strand Women’s Golf Association playing out of Arrowhead Country Club won the title.

The organization with more than 100 female members edged The Dunes Golf and Beach Club, and the other four competing courses were Burning Ridge, Grande Dunes Members Club, Surf Golf and Beach Club, and Litchfield Country Club.

The clubs competed in six separate matches with 10 women from each club per match. The top five scores using the Stableford net point system were used for each team score.

The clubs comprising the membership of the league have changed over the years, though some dedicated clubs have been represented for the full 40 years.

This story was originally published July 11, 2016 at 9:41 PM with the headline "On Grand Strand Golf: Rounds played increase slightly for the spring and first half of 2016."